Professor of Anthropology Stephen Houston, an expert in Mayan civilization, has been awarded a prestigious "Genius" grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the organization announced Tuesday.
Houston, the Dupee Family professor of social science, was one of 25 MacArthur fellows announced this year. In addition to bragging rights, the grant comes with $500,000 - paid in installments over a five-year fellowship and with no specific stipulations as to how the money must be used.
Focusing primarily on the iconography and inscriptions found in artifacts from the ancient Mayan civilization, Houston examines illustrated or inscribed archaeological objects with other pre-Columbian texts written by the Mayan peoples as means of exploring the political and social aspects of the culture. Drawing from these sources, Houston has been able to, as the foundation stated on its Web site, "reconstruct the political and social structure of Mayan civilization."
A little over a week ago, Houston said, he received a phone call from the foundation with the news that he had been selected as a MacArthur Fellow.
"It didn't really seem quite real," he said, adding that he felt "stunned disbelief" after putting the phone down.
"I thought I was hallucinating," Houston said, until the FedEx package arrived several days later bearing the official letter.
He is still unsure what to do with the grant money, he said.
"I'm too busy teaching right now," he said, his courses including ANTH 1650: "Ancient Maya Writing" and ANTH 2501: "Principles of Archaeology." He said it was a shame that the news had to come in the middle of a busy academic year, adding that in addition to teaching commitments, he is running an archeological dig and writing several papers.
One of the most prestigious grant programs in the country, the MacArthur Fellowship recognizes top thinkers in a variety of fields and provides them with funding to take their research in a direction of their choosing.
In 2006, alums Jennifer Richeson '94, a social psychologist, and Sarah Ruhl '97 MFA'01, a playwright, also won grants. Professor of English and writer C.D. Wright was honored in 2004.
